Expenses living in Japan (monthly)

Before I came to Japan, I had to check my budget A LOT! I was working like crazy and always worried if my money would be enough to live in Japan. So, this post shall help you to somehow see how much it costs to live in Japan! Just a tiny warning, my nickname is Scrooge McDuck. So, if I leave the house, I take out the unused devices of their plug (like laptop, toaster etc.), don't use the heater much and even turned off the light when watching something on my laptop at night... But let's talk about the bills now!

Paying bills in Japan is very easy! Most of the time, you just take it and go to the convenience store - in our case, we always went to Lawson, because that's what's closest to our housing. Just give the paper to the cashier, they scan it, you push a green button on the screen and pay. Then they stamp it and you can take the reciept home.
The deal with the gas and electicity is, that if your montly bill is below a certain amount of money (I think it's ~1,200 Yen), you pay it together with next months bill. I am not sure as to why, but I think it is something about maintenance or service money or whatever. Anyway, so it could be you have to only pay every two months, if you are good! 

Here is what I had to pay monthly (even if I had to pay it together, I just split it up by the months they wrote on the receipt): 

Gas

September: -?
Oktober: 1,097 Yen
November: 1,093 Yen
Dezember: 1,455 Yen
Jänner: 1,992 Yen
Februar: 1,449 Yen
März: 1,275 Yen
April: 1,474 Yen
Mai: 1,525 Yen
Juni: 1,137 Yen
Juli: 1,137 Yen
August: 2,640 Yen (until departure on 26. August)

Electricity

September: 1,037 Yen
Oktober: 1,458 Yen
November: 1,734 Yen
Dezember: 1,858 Yen
Jänner: - (included in the February bill)
Februar: 2,921 Yen
März: 1,171 Yen
April: 1,143 Yen
Mai: 1,721 Yen
Juni: 1,441 Yen
Juli, August: 2,861 Yen

Water

The water gets paid directly at Eleve. You just go to the landlady and pay it. The good think is: Even though  you have a deadline, if you miss it a bit, it's not a problem. As long as you pay sooner or later, they are very understanding.

September, October, November: 3,776 Yen
December, January: 3,438 Yen
February, March: 3,390 Yen
April, May: 2,817 Yen
June, July: 2,920 Yen
August: 1,201 Yen

National health insurance

1,670 every month

Appartment (Eleve)

40,000 every month

Mobile Phone

I don't know if you will need one, but basically, here is what you'd need to pay, if you go to Softbank and get one of those prepaid phones. The deal with them is, you can use them however long you want. The number might die after a few months, if you don't re-charge your phone, but if you come back to Japan, it is very esay to re-activate. The phone is a simple one, no smart phone. But it is enough to do messages and calls. So if you decide to get it, here is what I paid:

13,605 Yen (Phone, money for two months and battery charger) After that:

3,000 Yen every two months (if you want, tell them to take off 300 Yen for free e-mail service!)

Food

That's something I really can't say. If you go out to eat a lot, you will probably spend 1,000 Yen a day. But if not, you can easily get it cheaper. If you need hints: Buy your meat at CO-OP and your vegetables in Izumiya, in the vegetable shop downstairs. (If you have ever been there, you will know what I talk about, don't worry. ;D)

I probably spent about 2,000 Yen on 3 days worth of food, excluding my food for lunch, because I'd only need something tiny like Donut during class breaks, which is ~108 Yen.

But fear not, there will be following a post about food and shopping, too! =)

Maison de Eleve Karakuni - Momoyama University's "dormitory"

Before going to Japan, I read on the homepage that Momoyamas dormitory costs 40,000 Yen a month and that doesn't include water, gas or electricity. And I was shocked, because I heard some people only had to pay 10,000 Yen a month at some university in Tokyo (up until today I am not sure if that is actually true).

But here I will give you good reasons, why those 40,000 Yen are absolutely okay.

Maison de Eleve is NOT a dormitory. In fact, it is a normal appartement complex. There are actually normal Japanese people living in the same building as you! Just that most of the rooms are rented by Momoyama. So if you thought you might end up sharing a room with somebody - not going to happen here! In this post, I want to tell you the good and the bad points about Maison the Eleve, or shortly, as I will call it from now on, Eleve.

The thing we are living in here is luxurious, if we compare it to other dorms. You've got your own bath and toilet, a (very tiny) kitchen, a balcony, washing mashine and air conditioner! The room is also equipped with a bed, TV, fridge, water cooker, rice cooker microwave, desk + chair, desk-lamp, futon + sheets, a tiny table and at least one shelf. If you are lucky, you have some extra stuff in your room from previous exchange students. I had a box with some useful stuff (stationary, a hair dryer, pans and a second shelf and table). This are the pictures of my room, shortly after moving in:

The entrance from the inside. The washing mashine.

View after coming in. Kitchen, washing mashine, microwave.

Entrance to the toilet (across the washing mashine)

The toilet.

The bath.

Proper view of kitchen (and my finger)

Entrance of the room. Bed, balcony, fridge, and everything!

View from the bed.

View from the balcony door. You can see the walk-in closet on the right. Spacy.

View from my door.

My room was on the 7th floor, called A701. There are three parts of the building. A and C, which are facing each other, and B. In A and C are the exchange students, the "common Japanese residents" live in the B part.

If you are not familiar with Japan, there are a few things to know in general: buildings have veeeery thin walls. No matter where you live. That's actually good, because if there is an earthquake, the walls won't smash you to death, if they fall on you. But then again, you can hear pretty much everything your neighbor is doing. You will know when he's coming home or listening to music or going to bed or when he's watching a very hilarious TV-program. If you have a nice neighbor, this won't be a problem If you have a neighbor that does like to party wheras you don't like to (or vice versa) you might have a few problems. But for the sake of all of you, I'd say it's easy to be considerate and at least for me, everything worked out very well during this year. I only had one neighbor and she became one of my best friends there, but still, I could always tell her if she was too loud or anything.

Because of the thin walls in Japan, you will soon face another problem with your room: it is not very well isolated. During winter, you might wonder how it can be so cold in one room and during summer, the high humidity will sleep together with you in your bed and make your room a lovely sauna. Of course, you can use your air conditioner, which also is a heater. But if money is a problem, try to not use it non-stop. At least in winter, you an use the lovely blanket to keep yourself warm. But in summer, I suggest you to really use your air conditioner. It is in the interest of your health and not only one of our exchange students had health problems because of the heat. 

Another important thing to know is, that in Japan, prices for ground are very expensive. And thus, the prices for appartements are also very high, compared to most of the parts in Europe. So while some of you gasp in panic, that your tiny room costs ~400 Euro per month, it is actually pretty cheap for Japanese standards. Because, like I said, it's not some cheap dormitory. It's your own home.

Also determining how expensive a flat is, is where it is located. Having it called a universitys dormitory might make you think it is very close to it, but actually, you have to walk to it for ~30 minutes. At some parts also up-hill. So even if you go there during the winter, you will end up sweating a lot. But you will get used to it, soon. So don't worry too much.
The train station is also about 20 walking minutes from Eleve. It sounds worse than it is, but if we consider that Eleve and the university are somehow already on the countryside of Osaka, it is not too bad.

Speaking of the train station, it is directly connected to Namba, the main part of Osaka. Kind of like Shibuya in Tokyo. But at the same time, the train to Namba is one of the most expensive ones in Japan. One way from Izumichuo to Namba is 630 Yen. So it's a bit pricey. But there are other things to do in the area. A good karaoke place is very close, only one station away in Komyoike, there is an Izakaya close to university etc. If you want to know more about it, please wait for the post where I explain about the things to do in Izumi!

Lastly, Eleve is awesome because you have your privacy, but at the same time all your friends with you. There are regular parties (to the very disappointment of the Japanese neigbors) and you will hardly ever feel homesick, if your friends are living in your building. It is a very family-like atmosphere and I can't tell you how much I love it here.

Only a warning: Lot's of spiders here, there is a rooster that will wake you up every morning (and night...) and the cicadas are not really quiet in summer either. But on the bright side, Osaka has not to deal with very strong taifuns or earthquakes, so I guess that's just fairness from mother nature. ;)

Here is a video I took after moving in from my room! Don't mind my talking. ^^'